Whoosh

Gusty and very windy all day. 

Warm still, but it will get cold and below freezing at night starting tonight, so I moved all the pots into the garage, and the smaller new things into the bathroom.

I unhooked all the hoses and took the spray nozzles off, but left the hoses on the ground and didn't completely drain them. They should be okay.

I Can Still Do It (sort of)

👌 I can still get up and down (although not easily) and spread some bags of mulch on my hands and knees, and move a couple bags over to the potting bench too.

👌 I can still shift rocks around on my hands and knees -- not big ones, but still. More to do as I expand the circle garden a bit.

👌 I can still get on a stepladder and wield pruners and saws well above my head. 

↓

I trimmed the awkward branches on the juniper by the garage door. Only a bit. I didn't scalp it, and the tree is still goofy looking and loose and tilted. I actually took a lot of small branches off by the gate too, for better access.

I wasn't sure at age 75, out of shape and not agile, that I could get this job done. But I didn't want to hire it, as the exact branches to lop were uncertain and I had to keep stepping back to see what was needed. I fussed a bit and took some time.

Not much change shows for all of that, but it's better now. Still ungainly and funny looking, but better.

Hung the Feeder Today

I put up the hummingbird feeder today. This year it is on the shepherd's crook in the circle garden, with the Sweet Summer Love vine growing next to it.

It had always been on a chain hanging from the viga crossbeam, which made it visible from the living room and right outside the kitchen window, but too close for comfort when we sat on the patio. 

On the patio we were right there, which scared off the birds at times, or subjected us to dive bombing at other times. So this year we'll see it from afar, or from inside at the kitchen sink looking out.

It's early. Usually I get the first sighting in early April, but it's been so warm and will continue to be warm, so let's see if early scouts are on their way.

Hooked Up Hoses

Another beautiful summery feeling day. I set up all the hoses in their permanent configurations, with Y splitters and nozzles. Some years I've had difficulties, but this time everything connected easily with no leaks.

I know, I know. It's too early.

But we are now zone 7a on the hardiness map, and the last frost is expected by April 15. For the next 10 days until April 4 we don't go below freezing at night and days are warm. 

If freezing weather happens after that forecast, or later into April or May, I'll unhook everything. I won't need to drain and store the hoses, just unhook them and turn everything off.

With the hot sunny weather I need to keep things well watered. Everything is so dry, and I want my plants to get a decent start for the season.

Summer in March

Little breeze, bright sun, 71° and no leaves out on any trees yet -- it was a hot afternoon. It felt like a summer day.

In March.

Of course I picked this hot afternoon to dig out the anemone. 

It came out easily, but I'll likely have to pull runners all summer and keep those in check. 

When I dug it up the soil was bone dry, so I watered the whole garden a ton, cleaned up fallen leaves, and then spread a bag of mulch.

Hot work on a summery feeling day.

Now the space is ready for planting. I'm looking forward to having this pretty Blushing Pink rose outside the window.

Switching Things Around

I watered oaks in the field and all of the gardens yesterday and today. Stuck some old Jobes spikes at the base of each oak. Warm and sunny, with a breeze in the morning, but windy and overcast in the afternoon. 

I got a lot done: I brought all the pots out from the garage, since temps will be above freezing for a week or more. 

I moved rocks away from the tulips at the garage wall and made a rock catchment circle under the garage canale. I cut back some things. 

. . .  AND, I made switches:

↺ I put the white bowl in the center of the thyme circle. I'll fill it with flowers (I mocked up a version in summer below). 

I had already removed all the perennials from the thyme last year, so having a low bowl of color and texture and flowers there might be nice.

↺ Then I moved the turquoise birdbath to the prairie pot garden by the deck in place of the sundial, which was totally getting lost in the display.

But I didn't like it there so I moved the birdbath to where the brown urn had been in front of the fence. It's a brighter accent in front of that long expanse of vine. 

I left the corner by the deck empty. It doesn't need a decor element, and when I place the pots there for the prairie pot garden, it will be filled.

↺ The brown urn then went down below at the base of the Major Wheeler honeysuckle. I'll put a pot of draping Kent's Beauty oregano in it since there's shade there.

↺ The small metal sundial went to the center of the kitchen courtyard, just a small anchoring piece where I had a low pot of tickseed last year. (A mock up of that in summer below.)

The white bowl with orange pansies and draping oregano had been eye catching seen from the deck as I looked down the yard, but with more going on now near the garage door, I don't need it. Maybe a small pot of something can go there.

I don't know why these changes occurred to me all of a sudden. I liked the way things were, although the birdbath seemed stranded in the circle of thyme without anything else there now, the sundial wasn't visible in summer, and one change led to another.

Plant Shipments

It's always tricky when my plants get set for shipping in mid April. Once again we will be traveling (out to California), likely from April 9 to the 16th. Plant orders are scheduled to ship then.

But both Whiteflower Farm and High Country Gardens have shipped my orders this week! Whiteflower sent the Blushing Pink rose and hellebore (but still awaiting the gomphrena and a petunia) and HCG sent the two armerias, four blue flax and two Palmer penstemons.

It's still only mid March and nights have been below freezing. Yikes. The weather here for the coming week is milder, and above freezing at night, so it should be okay for a while. 

But this is way early. I'll need to hold the seedling pots for two months until planting time in mid May. And I'll need to find a way to keep the pots watered when we go away in mid April for a week. 

I don't know why they are shipping a month early.

Laying in Supplies

Sunny and in the 50s today, so not cold, but it's windy. The afternoon brought horrible dust storms, an emergency warning alert on the phone, and our umbrella (with its 80 pound base) sailed over and toppled to the ground. 

Later in the week it gets calmer and warmer and above freezing at night. Some things are starting to green up.

Look at what the bush clematis is doing. It's getting tall and green and leafy. When we've had below freezing nights it blackens, then comes back. It will shoot up even more later this week when the warmth comes.

I'll take all the pots out of the garage and let them air out and green up. When cold returns, which it will, I'll have to schlep them back inside, but it's time to get them outdoors for a while.

To be ready for the nice weather coming, I laid in supplies today. I went to Newman's and got 3 bags of potting soil, three bags of compost and 5 bags of mulch. And two bottles of liquid fertilizer.

Barely enough, but a start.

And I got two clay vase pots in a gray tone for setting out on the table by the garage door. 

And a green plastic 2 gallon watering can finally.

Winter Moisture

It's been dry most of the winter -- I watered everything at the end of February. 

Last night and today we got a couple inches of snow and rain and it's been melting nicely into the ground and dripping off branches and from the canales.  

Very welcome winter moisture just as we leave tomorrow for a week away in Tucson.

Pruning for Control

Windy, windy, windy today with gray skies. Not cold, but windy with big gusts.

Butterfly bush shrubs don't need to be pruned hard each year, unless to control the size and encourage flowering below just the top. I have cut back this butterfly bush in the corner in past years, but I might let it go this year. 

The form is vase shaped and upright, the blooming is not only at the top, and the size is still good. I should cut off the dried flowers, but leave the stems and branches uncut.

But good god, what about the pyracantha in the corner at the side of the house? Those tall vertical stems are where I cut this shrub last year to control it.

Now half the shrub is mounded gracefully and half of it is a freakish explosion of tall stems. 

It's in a spot where I don't see it much. From the other side of the fence, looking down the side alley past the ironwood tree, I see only the tall upright stems above the fence. Not attractive, but not in the way.

Will those tall branches settle in and drape over eventually? Should I just let this go? Pruning it to control the size hasn't worked at all so far.